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Shin, who held his previous position for six years, will remain at Samsung as a president and co-chief executive officer of the electronics business, the company said in announcing its annual management shake-up.

Koh joined Samsung in 1984 and has worked across many of its divisions, including HR, product planning and development. Samsung said he led the development of the Galaxy S6 and Note 5 handsets, and the company's impressive Samsung Pay system.

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The move has widely been seen as an effort by ascendent vice chairman Lee Jae Yong to refocus on software as a way to distinguish its products from cheaper Chinese rivals and the extremely profitable, and entirely unique Apple iPhone and iOS app store.

Shin was also blamed after the company ordered too many of its then-flagship Galaxy S6 smartphones, rather than the aesthetically more daring (and interesting) curved glass Edge variant.

Samsung was once a clear leader in smartphone design and sales, with mobile handsets once forming two-thirds of its operating profit. More recently it has seen its overall earnings fall into a year-on-year loss, in July, after mobile profit fell 38 percent.

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The wider release of the Galaxy S6 Edge and a new larger variant improved its numbers, but that was largely down to price cuts that saw it ship 84.5 million phones in the third quarter of 2015 (up 6.4 million from 2014) according to IDC.

Announcing its most recent numbers, Samsung said that it expected earnings to decline in the fourth quarter, with competition form Huawei and Apple eating into its smartphone sales on the low- and high-end. It has been rumoured -- though not confirmed -- that it would move up the release of the inevitable Galaxy S7 to January 2016 in order to kick-start sales.

Samsung also announced a number of other changes, including moving BK Yoon from the head of its consumer electronics division, working on TV and home appliances, to a 'long term strategy' role.